COMMENTARY – New data analysis of the just-released FBI hate crime statistics uncovers a disturbing trend in the United States: Jews are at least three times more likely to experience a hate crime in America than any other ethnic group.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently released its Hate Crime Statistics Report highlighting troubling trends related to hate crimes against Jews. According to the report, Jewish people were the targets of over 60% of religious bias-related hate crimes. Jews were targeted at significantly higher rates than any other religious group.
This data indicates an increase of 41% since 2015. Over the past decade, hate crimes targeting Jews topped the charts every year, with rates ranging from 52% to 67% of the total religious bias crimes.
While prominent Jewish organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League, have expressed grave concern over this latest report, a more concerning reality is apparent. The FBI does not include crimes targeting Jewish people under the racial, ethnicity, or ancestry bias categories but only as a religious group. This singular perception of Jewish identity is a misconception.
All Jews – Orthodox Jews on one end of the religious spectrum and completely secular Jews on the other end – share a long and vibrant history, culture, and heritage. We are a people of a distinct ethnic background and are persecuted as such. The FBI does not analyze hate crime data targeting Jews to factor in broader antisemitic sentiments, which have surpassed mere religious bias, and intersect biases related to race, ethnicity, and ancestry.
The mass shooting at the Poway, California synagogue, the Jersey City shooting at a kosher grocery store, and the Monsey, New York, machete attack of a Rabbi were not inspired by hatred of Judaism alone. They were motivated by hatred of Jewish people.
Today, antisemitic acts and sentiments are rooted in a more secular bias. Categorizing hate crimes against Jewish people as part of the collective statistic of race and ethnicity-based hate crimes would show that Jews represent 17% of the victims of hate crimes in this category, second only to crimes against African Americans, and at a higher rate than crimes against Hispanic-Americans.
Factoring in the relative proportion of Jews from the total US population, this analysis highlights an alarming result: A Jewish person is three times more likely to experience a hate crime than African Americans and thirteen times more likely than Hispanic Americans. These comparisons are not intended to diminish anyone's suffering; however, these numbers are alarming and require deep evaluation.
Antisemitic rhetoric, vandalism, and intimidation have become normalized in the US in recent years. Whether it takes place on social media, in the public square, or even in Congress. It is no wonder that such trends would escalate to violent hate crimes against Jewish people on the streets, in our places of worship, and even in our homes.
The Justice Department, and the FBI, should adopt a more comprehensive definition of antisemitism and view hate crimes against Jews as crimes motivated by a racial, ethnic, and ancestral bias.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by many institutions worldwide, including the US State Department, states that hate targeting Jews also manifests itself as:
"Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions… Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews." This definition would provide the Justice Department with a more accurate and comprehensive view of hate crimes targeting Jews.
As is evident from the FBI's latest report, the safety of the Jewish people in America is faltering at a precipitous rate. This trend cannot go unnoticed or ignored. We must raise awareness and take action to reverse this dangerous trend.
Robert Mayer is a member of the National Board of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network and a founding member of the Israeli American Council's Boston chapter.
